Political, Social, and Religious Ravings from a Texas Conservative

Charles Schumer Budget Conference Call Transcript

Tuesday, NY Democrat Charles Schumer was talking to colleagues in a conference call where he was giving marching orders to his fellow Democrats on how to proceed with the budget battle in Congress.

Here is a transcript:

Schumer: OK, let’s get this started. Before we begin I would like to thank Barbara, Ben, Tom and Rick for blocking any progress on the budget in the Senate. Keep up the good work guys.

Schumer: Now, before we have our conference call with the press, I want to remind everyone of the game plan. Shutting down the government worked so well for us, back when Clinton was President; so we’re looking for a repeat here.

Schumer: I know we’ve been limited in increasing spending like we want, but we can at least keep it at the inflated level Obama has achieved in the past couple of years. And to do that we’ve got to shut down the government… I mean we’ve got to let the Republicans shut down the government (laughter).

Schumer: OK, Babs and you other guys; just keep doing what you’re doing. Throw a few joke proposals at the Republicans as usual. That drives them crazy and our boys in the press can spin it that we’re at least trying to meet them half way.

Schumer: When they finally give up and can’t get the votes for a continuing budget resolution; we’re on our home turf… spin mode. Jump out there and portray John Boehner as painted into a box by the Tea Party. Then scream your little heads off that the spending cuts are draconian… I love that word… but don’t forget to use the word extreme in all its variations.

Schumer: Next we’ll need to press to… huh… hold on guys…

Schumer:(off phone, barely audible)What? The press is already on the conference call! What do you mean what do we do? … Just pretend they were never there and have just now joined us … *^&$@, they’re on our side! We’re fine…

(Silence for two minutes)

Schumer: OK, let’s get this started. I would like to thank the unbiased, critical press boys for joining us.

Babs Boxer (CA):(jumping right in) We are urging Mr. Boehner to abandon the extreme right wing.

Babs Boxer (CA): And, uhh, we urge the House to be reasonable and compromise on the scale of the spending cuts. They need to drop those amendments that would deny federal financing for Planned Parenthood and the EPA… and the children… don’t forget the children.

Tom Carper (DE): Yeah… My evil, hate filled, right-wing extremist friends on the other side of the aisle are going to shut down the government! Baaaad! Extreeeme!

Ben Cardin (ML): Extreme Mr. Boehner is giving into the extremist element of his extreme party.”

Richard Blumenthal (CN): Yeah… but don’t forget how small they are, the Tea Party I mean, Astroturf and all that… They are a relatively small extreeeeme group of ideologues who are an anchor to us reasonable people trying to spend money we don’t have.

Schumer: Well done guys… now repeat and report that a thousand times.

(End of Conference)

*** Editor’s Note: This transcript may not be verbatim, but it does capture the gist of what was said.

11 Responses

Why even go into what was said with the mute button off? Schumer said things more plainly on the Senate Floor, yesterday:

“Speaker Boehner is caught between a shutdown and a hard place. It’s time to forget the ‘tea party’ and take the deal.”

You just watch. I’ll bet dollars to donuts that Boehner will call for a compromise measure — say, a $30 billion cut instead of $90 billion or whatever the Tea Party Patriots call for at their rally, tomorrow.

I mean, shutting down the gov’t sounds cool… until the voters realize, “Hey! Where’s my refund check? Where’s my passport?” People remember that stuff, come election time (it helped Clinton get his second term).

Me too. But I my description of why would have included the words “lack of” and “cojones”. Which has been a Republican Party problem for decades.

We’ve reached a point where we have to decide if we are serious about saving this nation or if we’re eventually going to collapse like another Greece or Ireland. The Democrats have said “full steam ahead.” With a compromise, the Republicans will be saying, “keep going, but slow down a tad.”

Back when I did my Uncle Sam as an Average Joe spreadsheet, you said “Frankly, I find our level of debt to be a threat to national security — and I blame both sides of the aisle for it.” Will you concede now that one side is more to blame than the other? Cmon… 🙂

Tell me this is not a man heading for bankruptcy, if he’s not there already?

There is ONE difference though… Uncle Sam the person can’t leave his debt to his children. The worst he can do is leave them nothing; which is a shame. Uncle Sam the government can and will leave his debt to his children. They will inherit less than nothing; they will inherit bondage; and THAT is criminal.

>Will you concede now that one side is more to blame than the other? Cmon…

Hmm… well, here’s the deal… 🙂

As I understand it, the contribution to our debt is roughly equal, between the expenses of social services and war. I may be wrong on details, but that’s my general understanding. Maybe it’s 60/40… but those are the two big pieces.

The GOP loves war, and the Dems love social services. So, they’ll duke it out, end up cutting some funding of both sides, raise taxes (in some manner), and that actually could restore balance. I think I heard somewhere that the definition of a good compromise is, “nobody is happy.” I’d like to see both sides unhappy. Then I’d have a feeling we were on the right track.

Your middle ground solution seems to be assuming that the Democrats want to have a solvent nation; but just want to do it at the expense of the military. I don’t think that’s true. Many see national default as a means toward wealth redistribution and other radical agendas. They want us to keep spending until there is no way to pay.

Personally, I don’t want middle ground. As a matter of fact middle ground is my least desirable outcome. I want one side to be the clear-cut winner and the other to be the clear-cut loser; EVEN if my side is the loser.

From experience, I’ve learned the definition of compromise is “We’ll do it the left’s way… just not as fast.”

Conservative (My) Resolution: Don’t shoot Lynn in the Head!Liberal Resolution: Shoot Lynn in the Head Now!Compromise: Lynn must compromise and take a bullet in the head. The Left must compromise and not do it Now. Instead, we’ll slowly insert the bullet through Lynn’s head with a drill over a 48 hour period. Nobody’s happy, problem solved.

And at least one founding father agreed with me… (And I think more). “Give me liberty or give me death!” Like them, I want nothing in-between.

Well, I think you’re forgetting the Great Compromise of 1787. Without that, we’d have ended up a lil’ Europe — or worse, lil’ Africa. 🙂

I think an effective budget compromise is still sensible and doable. Cut 20% from both defense and social services, eliminate corporate tax loopholes (no international business with tax lawyers worth a damn is paying 35%, so using that as a talking point is just nonsense), and I bet we’d be balanced in a decade.

I have no spreadsheet to back that up… just a shoot-from-the-hip idea.

I only own one gun… does that make me a moderate, or just an under-armed conservative? 🙂

I think if my choice is, as described by the base of the major parties, (a) socialist welfare state or (b) fascist military state, I will (c) move to another country that’s less crazy… but where would that be, exactly? Hmm…

>> 12 GA pump, 100 rounds. There probably aren’t more than 100 socialists in North Texas

Maaaybe… But if you lived in Austin, you wouldn’t even be close. You also seem to be assuming a 1 shot to 1 zombie kill ratio.

We in East Texas like to be prepared for the all the socialist zombies that might spill over from Houston, Dallas, and Austin…. and Las Angeles, Chicago, New York and Washington… And France (well Europe) and all those other big land masses…